I asked one of the developers to clarify something and got
a wonderfully detailed answer that I'm now passing along.
Jeffrey Snover
Tivoli
>There are MLMs available for many platforms (AIX, Solaris, HP, and DEC)
and
>they can use netmon running in NetView on any UNIX platform as a
>controller. This is the original design of MLM - NetView. NT is left out
>of this. There is an NT MLM just for NT NetViews. In NetView 5.0 NT an
>MLM cannot be controlled by a netmon running on a NetView 5.0 UNIX
>platform. This cahges for NetView 5.1.
Actually the MLM for NT is not just for NetView on NT. A NetView
on Unix can comunicate with MLMs for NT just like MLMs for Unix.
There are a few restrictions in terms of extent of feature
support at the MIB level, but essentially both Unix MLM
and NT MLM support the same MIB.
Let me expand a little on James's case 3 (which is correct)
to try to clarify further on what can be a confusing situation
with multiplatform distributed environment and how Netview
for NT V5.0a and V5.1 can enhance this scenario.
Downstream MLMs, whether attended or unattended and whatever
platform, are controlled by an upstream "central NetView"
and report up to this "central NetView".
Downstream MLMs perform discovery, status polling, SNMP
data collection, and trap filtering at the subnet level.
They can report up to one or more NetViews. Regardless
of the MLM platform, the NetView can be Unix or NT (V5.0a
or V5.1)
NetView for NT V5.0a implemented part 1 of a two part
implementation to support MLMs in a distributed multiplatform
network managing environment. V5.0a can offload discovery
and status polling to the downstream MLM (all platforms).
Any MLM, of course, can be configured to send threshold/rearm
traps as well as other filtered and forwarded traps to NetView
for NT.
Part 2 of MLM support in a multiplatform distributed
environment was implemented in NetView for NT V5.1. This
added the capability for NetView to pair up with a MLM/NT
(special version shipped with the NetView/NT kit) on the
same machine to act as an "Attended MLM". This allows a
regional network manager to use NetView for local management
needs while sharing the MLM work without duplicating the
polling and data gathering. This also lets the regional
manager and the central office to view the same data.
Can NetView for NT V5.1 also be a "central manager"
controlling MLMs? Yes and no. It can offload discovery
and status polling to downstream MLMs and receive traps.
But the functions necessary to configure and view the
MLM MIBs are only available with NetView for Unix at
the moment.
|